The Briar Files

About Me

"An unpopular opinion concerning politics or religion lies concealed in the breast of every man; in many cases not only one sample, but several. The more intelligent the man, the larger the freightage of this kind of opinions he carries, and keeps to himself."--Mark Twain

About this blog

This blog is about my hobby of collecting and smoking pipes. I do not collect the very finest and most expensive pipes. I do not have a large income and I collect the pipes that I can afford. Such is one of the beauties of pipe smoking: there's room for everyone, if you can find your niche.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The only Christmas presents William Faulkner would accept from his family were pipe cleaners.

Faulkner's stepson, Malcolm Franklin, wrote in his book Bitterweeds: Life with William Faulkner at Rowan Oak
that his gifts "consisted of little bundles of pipe cleaners, some in
assorted colors, others snow-white. There were all kinds of pipe
cleaners in various bundles clinging precariously to the branches of the
tree, each with its little tag. There was one package of Dill pipe
cleaners, which Faulkner liked particularly... If he received any other
gift he would carefully take it to his office and there it would remain
unopened." Why the great writer would only accept these presents remains
a mystery.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

An early, never-before-published work by crime novelist Raymond Chandler has been discovered in the Library of Congress in Washington.

The 48-page libretto to the comic opera The Princess and the Pedlar,
with music by Julian Pascal, has hidden in plain sight at the library
since its copyright was first registered on 29 August 1917.

The work, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian, was found in March by Kim Cooper, shortly after she published her debut novel, The Kept Girl, featuring a fictionalised Chandlerin 1929 Los Angeles.

Click for all the info and another great photo of Raymond Chandler with pipe.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

A few days ago I remembered that I still had that sample of C&D's Briar Fox that I had received from smokingpipes.com a while back when I placed an order for a couple of pounds of bulk. It had dried out a little, but it was still okay, and I went ahead and gave it a moistening treatment anyway.

Briar Fox is a Virginia/burley blend that is pressed into blocks. I have to be careful with certain burley blends because some of them give me Half & Half flashbacks. There are a few burley blends that I still like on occasion, such as C&D's Haunted Bookshop, which I still order by the pound now and then--although I like it better with more Perique.

I liked Briar Fox. I don't normally do any very eloquent tobacco reviews, so I'll just say that I liked it and the burley was not overpowering. So if you're looking for a decent smoke without any "spice" tobaccos in it (for some reason), you could try Briar Fox.

Comment number 2: Today I went by the local cigar shop/tobacconist to get a few ounces of bulk to hold me over until I can make another big online order. I've requested this mix before, so I knew I would like it: 2 ounces Virginia, 1.5 ounces Perique, 0.5 ounce Latakia.

The guy said, "a half ounce each of Perique and Latakia?"

"No," I repeated, "an ounce and a half of Perique."

He raised his eyebrows, and as he poured it into the bowl with the Virginia, remarked, "That's a lot of Perique!"

I only replied, "Yeah."

It still amuses me how it seems that everyone who works there has this thing about Perique.

It's a decent blend, very simple and nothing fancy, but it works and I like it a lot. But if you have some kind of scary-thing going on about Perique, maybe you'd want to avoid it.

Friday, November 28, 2014

This is one of those things that your mileage is definitely going to vary on, but I thought I would pass this on. I cleaned out the back of my Jeep today and found a small Mason jar with maybe 3 or 4 bowls worth of tobacco in it. I couldn't remember what it was--it smelled like latakia--but it had been back there for a long time. It was really dry. Just crackling dry. So I thought I'd go ahead and see if I could revive it enough to smoke.

This is what I do to moisten tobacco: I put fairly small quantities of it in a small Mason jar in a sort of ring so I can put a small medicine cup upside down in the center. I fold some tissue paper (take your pick, although I'd suggest not using anything that's been scented or lotioned) into a small square and wet it, then squeeze out pretty much all the excess water so that it's quite wet but not dripping. I put that little square on top of the medicine cup and put the lid back on the jar. Let it sit overnight or longer, depending on how much you want to moisten the tobacco. Don't let it go too long or it will start forming mold. Where I live, the one time this happened to me it took several days (one of my experiments).

It turns out that after a night of my moistening treatment, the tobacco is quite smokeable again and turns out to be some of C&D's Mountain Camp.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Nick Merfelder petting his dog in Fort Davis in 1896. Mr.
Merfelder was born in Bavaria, immigrated to the United States as a
young man, and eventually ended up in Fort Davis, Texas. He was
the post's musician, barber, photographer, and justice of the peace.